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Sex appeal aims to attract tourists

This content was published on Oct 31, 2007 However, growth forecasts for ski regions lag far behind those for Switzerland’s cities, which have benefited most from the booming global economy and popularity of low-cost flights. BAK Basel Economics is forecasting a 3.1 per cent increase in the number of nights spent in Swiss hotels for the upcoming winter season. It said if the…

Swiss take second place in competitiveness

This content was published on Oct 31, 2007 Switzerland dropped from first place last year in the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report, however changes in the calculation methodology make direct comparisons with prior rankings redundant. WEF Chief Economist Margareta Drzeniek told swissinfo that Switzerland was doing all the right things to remain in the top ten. “Switzerland is still a good place to do…

Swiss robots brave Californian fires

This content was published on Oct 31, 2007 Swiss engineers Jean-Christophe Zufferey and André Noth unveiled their creations to the US public last week at swissnex, the scientific arm of the Swiss consulate in San Francisco. The two robotics experts brought several prototypes, including their solar glider which can fly for many hours non-stop and their miniature helicopter which can guide itself into…

Swiss dig up clues in dinosaur death mystery

This content was published on Oct 31, 2007 Scientists from Switzerland and the United States have been able to date the eruptions, which created the Deccan Traps lava beds, to within 300,000 years of the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, palaeontology’s most persistent puzzle. “Increasingly we see that vulcanism is largely responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs,” Thierry Adatte, a professor of…

UBS takes bigger than expected hit

This content was published on Oct 30, 2007 The bank is the latest high-profile institution to announce a big write-down on exposures to investments linked to US mortgage loans. UBS said on Tuesday that its pre-tax loss was SFr726 million ($624.8 million), the first in nine years for the third quarter. This loss was higher than most analysts expected, with estimates running at…

Banks rapped for Darfur “genocide” investments

This content was published on Oct 29, 2007 A deal by Switzerland’s biggest bank, UBS, to underwrite the Shanghai listing of Chinese oil firm PetroChina has come under particular scrutiny. The banks deny their deals help fund the violence. Some non-governmental organisations believe that the Sudanese government uses up to 70 per cent of its oil revenues to finance continued violence in conflict-ridden…

Bluetongue reaches Switzerland

This content was published on Oct 29, 2007 The illness, which is not considered dangerous for humans but can devastate animal herds, has spread from Germany and France and is affecting much of northwestern Europe. The Federal Veterinary Office announced on Sunday that six of 19 animals in a herd had tested positive for bluetongue. One cow presented severe symptoms and was put…

Wood could be the fuel of the future

This content was published on Oct 29, 2007 They have turned their attention to a familiar ally and one of Switzerland’s few plentiful renewable resources – wood. When Hurricane Lothar wreaked havoc across western Europe on December 26, 1999, Switzerland was not spared. The damage caused by the storm’s ferocious winds on the country’s forests was so bad that it could be detected…

Are old ski lifts condemned to history books?

This content was published on Oct 29, 2007 They say these wooden lifts should be recognised as cultural assets and kept in operation, in the same way 100-year-old steamboats have remained in service on Swiss lakes. A ride aboard the “nostalgic chairlifts” either in the resort of Kandersteg in the Bernese Alps or in the Jura Mountains near Solothurn is a short, but…

Leuenberger has high hopes from new parliament

This content was published on Oct 27, 2007 Leuenberger, a member of the centre-left Social Democratic Party, said that understanding for environment, transport and energy questions should increase after last Sunday’s general election. “The bloc of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberal Greens has become a little larger. And the [centre-right] Christian Democrats made many ecological promises in their election campaign,” he commented in…

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Internal: Archive

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Sex appeal aims to attract tourists

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Swiss take second place in competitiveness

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Swiss robots brave Californian fires

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Swiss dig up clues in dinosaur death mystery

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UBS takes bigger than expected hit

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Banks rapped for Darfur “genocide” investments

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Bluetongue reaches Switzerland

More

Wood could be the fuel of the future

More

Are old ski lifts condemned to history books?

More

Leuenberger has high hopes from new parliament

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